Surgery Department Administrative Assistant

Job Description: Surgery Department Administrative Assistant

Department: Surgery Department

Reports to: Office Manager

Job Summary: Assisting and understanding the surgery department. Knowledge of detailing the medical attention based on patient's needs, provide patient updates, communicating with doctors, assisting to facilitate with transfers of medical records to referring veterinarians, disseminate all other messages and phone calls as directed, and support hospital needs as appropriate.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

• Must be able to work independently and in a fast-paced environment.
• Must be communicative at all times with all supporting staff and clients
• Must be willing to learn and ask questions
• Must be friendly, outgoing, “people-oriented,” and positive
• Must be able to always maintain a professional and respectful attitude.
• Must possess proficient telephone and computer skills to maintain accuracy for medical records with VCA’s preferred software system.
• Must be able to maintain a strong and professional relationship with clients, referring veterinarians, and supporting staff.
• Solution oriented, critical thinker and keep your composure under any situation.
• Ability to multitask
• Prioritization skills and detail oriented
• Collaborating and having partnership with other departments to help the flow of the hospital.

Experience:

• Must be willing to be a part of evolving veterinary medicine, and technology.
• Experience in a veterinary hospital or other doctor’s office is preferred, but not required.
• Understanding of medical terminology and veterinary medicine
• Use of veterinary software preferred.

Duties:

The following is a list of essential job requirements. This list may be revised at any time and may also include duties not listed here. Job functions and responsibilities include:

• Be knowledgeable of patients in the department at the beginning of daily scheduled shift
• Keeping up to date about department updates and availability. 

• Be knowledgeable of commonly used software. Example:(Woofware, Smartflow, Census, etc.)
• Knowledge of outside laboratory testing (Antech) vs in-house treatments/laboratory testing.

• Assist clients with scheduling in-house consultations upon doctor request.
• Help facilitate prescription refills via written or verbal request 
• Check email and deliver lab results/medical records to appropriate doctors and patient charts
• Assist doctors with communication tasks/relaying results to clients when prompted by a doctor.
• Develop a familiarity and understanding of procedures/estimates in detail to better assist clients with Treatment Plans.

• Ability to create and review itemized estimates, including presenting estimates to clients.
• Ability to add referring hospital and primary veterinarian into the system.

• Accurately transcribe all outbound and inbound correspondence into the medical records.
• Follow any other doctors’ directions as appropriate.
• Point person for communication between front staff, technicians, and doctors
• Ability to update clients about patients, upon doctor's requests.
• Ability to report infectious diseases to the Los Angeles Health Department
• Answering receiving doctor calls and transferring adequately.

Relationship Building and Teamwork:

• Must be able to uphold and exemplify the principles of VCA’s Mission Statement, Three Steps of Service, and VCA Standard of Client Service
• Build rapport and maintain outstanding relationships with clients and pets at all times. 
• Demonstrate willingness and patience when helping answer client questions regarding their pet’s aftercare.
• Must support call distribution center and other department patient care coordinators to ensure that client calls and requests are being processed in a timely manner.
• Effectively communicate with co-workers in a respectful manner at all times

Housekeeping/Maintenance:

• Maintain a clean environment and assist with cleaning as needed for pets.
• Maintain your own clothing and appearance as directed by hospital policy ( must wear scrubs and closed toed shoes per hospital policy.
• Advise supervisor or management of any unsafe conditions

Reliability/Flexibility:

• Must maintain working knowledge of other roles within the department, as management may occasionally ask to support another role.
• Must have an understanding of working in an emergency service department
• Be flexible to fill the needs of the department, including an open availability, your schedule will be based on hospital needs.

Why Join VCA West Los Angeles?

We are passionate about supporting our Associates and are committed to your continuing education and personal career development. VCA West Los Angeles is a member of a larger community of dedicated professionals that will encourage you to explore everything a career in the veterinary field has to offer. We are committed to equity, inclusion, and diversity and strive to be a place where a talented mix of people want to come, stay, and do their best work. In addition, we support a work environment where you can focus on your career, happiness, and the patients you serve.

​​For hourly Associates:

VCA Animal Hospitals offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including Medical/Dental/Vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, pet care discounts, paid vacation, holidays and sick days, health and well-being programs that provide resources and training.

Compensation is negotiable based on education, experience, and other relevant credentials. The pay range for this position is $20.00 to $25.00 per hour. 

Below are some more of the many benefits of joining our team!

• Access to the people and financial resources of a large veterinary community
• Leadership opportunities
• Career development programs
• Opportunities to give back through strong Shelter partnerships and VCA Charities
• Tuition support and sponsorships
• Free mental health and wellness subscriptions (Lyra and Head Space)
• Competitive wage
• Medical, dental & vision insurance
• Generous pet care discounts
• Life, long and short-term disability insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Paid vacation and sick time
• 401(k)

If you are a current associate, you need to apply through our internal career site. Please log into Workday and click on the Career worklet on the landing page or search for Find Jobs.

Benefits: We offer competitive compensation along with a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision and paid vacation/sick days, 401(k), generous employee pet discounts and more!

The information in this position description indicates the general nature and level of work to be performed. It is not designed to be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of associates assigned to this job. Management reserves the right to revise the job description or require that other tasks be performed when the circumstances of the job change (for example, emergencies, change in personnel, workload, or technical development)

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer - Veterans / Disabled. For a complete EEO statement please see our career page at vcacareers.com

Salary : $20 - $25